STANTON, CHARLES BUTT (1873 - 1946), M.P. for the Merthyr and Aberdare constituency, 1915-1922

Name: Charles Butt Stanton
Date of birth: 1873
Date of death: 1946
Gender: Male
Occupation: M.P.
Area of activity: Politics, Government and Political Movements
Author: Huw Morris-Jones

Born Aberaman, Aberdare, Glamorganshire, 7 April 1873. On leaving school he was first employed as a pageboy with a family in Bridgend but later worked as a miner in his home town. He first came to public notice in the hauliers' strike of 1893, when, in one of the many skirmishes which occurred between the miners and the police, he was alleged to have fired a gun. He was charged and convicted of possessing a firearm without a licence and sentenced to six months imprisonment. He was prominent later in the coal strike of 1898 and in the London dock strike of the same year for he had sought work in the docks following the closure of the mines in Aberdare. He returned, however, and was one of the founder-members of the Independent Labour Party in the district in 1900, which invited Keir Hardie to be the successful candidate in the election of 1900. From 1903 to 1908 Stanton was a member of the Aberdare Urban District Council. On Hardie's death in 1915 Stanton was returned as member for the constituency in the by-election and stood as a supporter of the Government in its conduct of the war. He was opposed by James Winstone, then president of the South Wales Miners' Federation. He was re-elected in the general election of 1918, defeating T.E. Nicholas who stood as a pacifist candidate. In 1919-20 Stanton was made High Constable of Miskin Higher and in 1920 he received the C.B.E. In 1929 he was defeated by G.H. Hall, the official Labour candidate. He resided for the rest of his life at Hampstead.

He was a man of distinguished appearance and during the 1920s and 1930s he acted in a number of films, ironically enough taking the part of aristocrats or clergymen. He was married and had two sons, one of whom was killed in 1917.

He died in London, 6 December 1946.

Author

Published date: 2001

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/

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